Maximum Ride: A Whole New World
by SplatteredEggs
Summary: Max is alerted to the presence of vampyres in the world when the Tracker hunts her down at Dr. Martinez's house. And now she has to move into the House of Night, without the Flock - can she handle it? Don't need to have read HoN for this. R
1. Whaa?

"Ugh, it's so nice to relax," I said, leaning back in one of Mom's comforters in the living room and closing my eyes. "Itex is gone, the kids are all safe and okay, we have a bed to sleep in every night and enough food – it's so wonderful just to have a stress free life."

Fang, the only other person in the room, stayed silent. Big surprise.

I sighed, straightening up. "I have to go talk to Nudge," I told Mr. Tall, Dark and Silent, who watched me carefully but still did not speak. "Apparently she-"

Something caught my eye at that very moment. No, wait, not something – some_one. _He was outside the window, standing in the middle of my mom's lawn, his bright blue eyes staring at me. I wanted to call out to Fang, ask him what the hell was going on, but this man intrigued me too much. Not only were his eyes freakishly blue, but around them he had intricate tattoos that swirled around his face. In the middle of his forehead, at the centre of the tattoos, was a sapphire blue crescent moon. This man was odd, but it wasn't until I opened the window to ask him what he was doing here that I felt it. This man – he had some kind of darkness radiating off him, some kind of evil stalking about his aura.

And it scared the crap outta me.

I moved to close the window, but it was too late. The guy had extended one pale, white finger towards me and spoke as if he were in some kind of trance.

"Maximum Ride! Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!"

That's when the pain exploded inside my head, ten times worse than any brain attack I've ever had.

Life just can't be easy for me, can it?

I opened my eyes, but the lighting was painfully bright and I snapped them shut again.

"Uggghhh," I moaned, clutching my hands to my head. I squeezed open one eye, to see Fang's worried face hovering above me. "Hi," I said meekly, smiling up at him. I sat up and leaned my back against the wall, and the centre of my forehead burst out in another round of pain. I clutched one hand to it, but it didn't help. The pain wasn't too bad, but it was traveling down my nose, along my cheekbones and I had this shuddery feeling I was about to throw up.

"Max," Fang said, sounding curious and a little worried. My eyes flickered up to him. Fang didn't do the whole emotion-in-the-voice thing. "What's that thing on your forehead?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he was being so weird and trying to trick me, but the look on his face told me that he was totally dead serious.

I stood up, and cautiously turned to face the window. The weird demon guy was gone, but I caught sight of something else: my reflection. Exactly where the pain in my forehead had started, was a crescent moon like on Demon-o's face, except mine was just a faint black outline – his had been coloured in and was the same freakish blue as his eyes.

"Whaa?" I questioned no-one, sounding like the idiot I truly am. Then a second later:  
"MOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!" I yelled at the top of my voice, because she was the one person I needed right now.

Of course, the Flock, being the nosy little buggers they were, arrived first.

"What's going o-" the Gasman began to question, but as soon as he caught sight of the bizarre…_thing_ on my head he fell silent.

Nudge opened her mouth, probably to express all her thoughts and opinions about the new tattoo on my head, but she snapped it shut as my mom came in.

I ran into her arms, and hugged her tight.

"Max? What's wrong?" Mom asked, the worry evident in her voice.

I pulled away so Mom could get a good look at my forehead. I watched her expression change from worried to shocked, then back to worried again.

"What is it?" I whispered, scared to death. Was it something _I _should be worried about?

"Ah," Mom said, sounding sad. "I think it's time you and had a little chat, Max."

"Okay, so what's going on? Who was that guy? What is this _thing _on my forehead? What…?" I asked, closing the door to Mom's study behind me as I entered the room.

Mom held a finger against my lips and I realized I was babbling like Nudge. She motioned towards the sofa bed, and I sat with her.

"Let me tell you," she said, frowning slightly. "But you aren't going to like it." I didn't say anything, but I urged her with my eyes to continue.

"All around us, every day, are a different race that walks the streets. Usually they cover up the feature that makes them unique, because a group of people called the People of Faith believe their kind is evil."

I nodded at her. I'd heard of the People of Faith – they were some weird religious group that had something to say about everything. I wonder what they'd say about our bird-kidness. Hm.

"But they aren't. They can be as innocent or as cruel as a human, only they're more powerful so people are scared of them.

"There is a place, called the House of Night, where youngsters new to this way of life – to becoming a non-human – go and live and learn how to manage themselves without being a danger to others. This race, is a race of vampyres."

I splurted out a bit of the water I had been drinking, and chuckled.

"You're kidding, right? Vampyres don't exist! They're mythological creatures made up by some old guy who got to bored one day!"

"They do Max. And you know the Mark I was talking about? The thing that defines them, but they cover up? It's right in the centre of your forehead, Max."

I burst out laughing again. She was definitely kidding now.

"Okay, okay you got me. I'm turning into a vampyre. Whatever. Now seriously, what is this thing on my head? I kinda need to know."

I looked at my mom, hard, and I could see she wasn't kidding. I sighed and leaned back in my chair.

"What was that about a House of Night?" I asked, and she smiled slightly as she knew I started to believe her.

"The House of Night is a vampyre finishing school – where the kids that have been Marked go and live and learn about their new way of life and how to handle it."

"So the – wait, did you say _live?_"

"Yes Max. The House of Night is a boarding school."

"No! I'm not going there! I'm not leaving the Flock! I can't! We promised we'd stick together. There is _no _way I am leaving them."

Mom looked up at me, a grim look on her face.

"You have to, Max." she said in the most timid voice I'd ever heard her speak in.

"Or what?" I yelled, suddenly angry.

"Or you die." she said simply. Then for the second time that day, everything went black.


	2. Emotions and Fang

**A/N: I forgot to put one of these in last chapter. Hm.**

Anyway, hi, I'm Splat! I'd really love you to review this, because it's one-of-a-kind (I haven't seen any other MR/HoN crossovers) and I don't really know how it should be done. 

**I have a rough plotline in my head, but mostly I'm making up the whole thing as I go along, so any ideas or criticisms would be greatly appreciated. **

**It's only been a couple of days since I uploaded the first chapter, but I'd like to thank turquoiseflame, Schizophrenic Muffin [awesome name btw] and PhoebRose because despite the fact I've had 15 hits, they are the ONLY ONES THAT REVIEWED! Anonymous reviews are enabled: you have no excuse, people!  
**

***clears throat***

**  
I mean, um, please?**

Anyhoo, enjoy.

"What? Are you kidding?" I heard Fang's surprised voice above me. Dr. Martinez replied in a tone that made me worried: it was sad. I tried to open my eyes but the light was too bright and it felt like a white hot knife was stabbing me repeatedly in the forehead. Ouch.

"Unfortunately, no. She has to move into the House of Night or she will die slowly and painfully." I sneezed, and it was then I felt the phlegm in my throat, the congestion in my nose and the ache in my stomach. I felt crap. Was this the start of my apparently slow, painful death? I hoped not.

"What kind of messed up logic is this? There…there must be someway around it! We can't _lose _Max!" Fang said, sounding extremely stressed and worried. I lay there motionless, fearful that if he knew I was awake he wouldn't get all his emotions out – and it was important for him to.

"I'm…so sorry." Mom said, her voice breaking and I knew tears were rolling down her cheeks. I felt a sense of guilt deep in the pit of my stomach: I was doing this to them. I was causing them this pain.

Then suddenly, my guilt turned into anger and I sat up, surprising both Dr. Martinez and Fang.

_Are you there God? Because if so I'd like to have a word with you. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? What's the big idea, huh? Why did you feel the need to choose ME to have wings and tortured by scientists for the first eleven years of my life? Why was it ME that was created to save the world? And why the hell was it ME that was Marked?!_

"Are you o-?" Fang started to ask, but recognized the look on my face and shut his mouth.

Dr. Martinez also seemed to recognize the look, because she subtly said: "Fang, why don't you take the kids out for ice cream? My treat."

Fang nodded, accepted the money from Dr. M and left, shooting one last worried glance at me.

_Oh, and God, if you're still there, I HATE YOU!_

"Max, I'm going to leave you to your thoughts for a while, but if you have any questions or anything I'll be in the next room, okay?"

I didn't answer, because I was too consumed by anger. I was in Mom's study, where every day she looked for ways to make our lives a little easier. And, you know, she did all her vet work. Her desk was piled high with papers, and I had a sudden urge to sweep them all off the table. I stood up, and hit the papers side on as hard as I could, and was rewarded with the chaos of the sheets falling to the floor.

But, unfortunately, that one random act of violence opened the Emotion Gates, and the anger powered me through the office, knocking books, breaking tables, just randomly screaming war cries.

Of course, all this fuss alerted Mom from the other room and she stood in the doorway, watching me destroy her office like a tornado with a single droplet rolling down her cheek.

I was angry at the world for everything it'd done – creating me, making me lead such a hard life, not letting me settle down but instead come BACK to torture me some more with this whole 'vampyre' thing. I hit, I kicked, I destroyed everything in my path until the study was nothing more than a room full of broken objects. It was then I made the big mistake – I launched myself, foot first, at the wall and not only did I penetrate the crumbling plaster, but I also made my foot hurt. A LOT.

I broke down in tears just then, ripping my foot out of the wall which made it hurt even more and collapsing in the corner. I tucked my knees to my chin and sobbed my heart out, soaking my jeans within seconds.

Mom obviously didn't know what to do with a broken teenager, but she did try to fix one part of me – my foot. But as soon as she touched it, a shockwave of pain washed through it and I twisted away from her, burying my face in my jeans again and bawling as if there were no tomorrow.

She drew away from me, and left the room.

And I cried my poor little heart out at my doomed future.

**Fang's POV  
**

I opened the front door with the key Dr. M had copied me, and dropped it in the flowerpot by the door, where we kept all our keys.

"That was such a nice ice cream! I loved all the little chocolate drops and the chocolate sauce-" Nudge started to babble, but I was completely oblivious to it – at the moment all I cared about was whether Max was okay.

And it was then I spotted Dr. M's silent figure sitting on the couch, back rigid and muscles tense.

"Um, guys? Why don't you go outside and have a waterfight?" I asked, and Angel and Iggy grinned whilst Nudge and Gazzy slapped high fives. They all ran outside, and I heard screams of joy within seconds.

"Doctor Martinez? Are you okay? Where's Max?" I asked her, but she didn't make eye contact. There were tear marks streaking her face, and her mouth was twisted into an unattractive frown. "Dr. M?"

She looked up at me then, her watery eyes searching my face for an answer.

"I don't know what to do," she rasped, and I felt a pang of pity for her. She'd done such a good job with Ella, and then we'd sprung Max on her – a problem child if there was one. I mean, she had _wings. _"She's my own daughter, and I have no clue what to do."

Usually, being a saint and everything, I would go and comfort her. But she could wait – there was someone in need of comforting more.

"Where is she?" I asked, and Dr. M raised a single, shaking finger and pointed at the study. I walked across the living room and laid a single hand on the brass handle. One twist, and I would find the creature that managed to destroy Dr. Martinez, the second strongest person I had ever met.

One twist, and I would find Max.

That sealed the deal for me, and I opened the door and went in.

**Max POV**

I was still curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, and my face was still buried in my jeans – I didn't want to see the damaged I'd caused to Mom's office – I mean, this place was her _life – _and I didn't want the awful guilt yet.

The anger seemed to have gone (turns out hitting and kicking inanimate objects is a pretty good way of releasing your emotions) but I was still miserable, and every time I thought about leaving the Flock it brought on a fresh new wave of tears.

I heard a creak, then a click as the door swung shut. Someone had entered the room. And from the hairs on the back of my neck pricking up, I could only assume my visitor was Fang.

He sat down neck to me, and for a moment we were just silent. But as I accidentally brushed his arm I felt myself craving his touch, so I flung both my arms around him and wept into his shirt.

He held me in a comforting embrace, and I didn't want to let go. Ever.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I must have fallen asleep at one point because when I next opened my eyes I was in my own bed, tucked up like a child. I sat up, and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Fang sat in my armchair, watching me carefully with his dark eyes.

"You talk in your sleep when you're troubled." he stated, and I went red. What had I been saying?

"Yeah, I must have been worse than Nudge last night then."

We stayed in silence for a minute, Fang still watching me and me fiddling with my fingers, unable to meet his gaze.

"So what happened then?" Fang asked softly, and I sighed. He'd seen the damage to the study, obviously, and he'd realized just how mental I was.

"I don't know." I said, and it was another while before I spoke again. "I guess…I guess I'm just sick of it, you know? All the drama in our lives…I wish it could all been different."

Fang stayed silent for the most part, but I could swear I hear a whisper of "don't we all" under his breath.

"I mean, first the wings, then saving the world, and now THIS?" I said, jabbing a finger at my forehead as I said the last word. "Are they ever going to leave me alone?"

"No, probably not."

"You know what? Never mind. I thought you came in here to comfort me, but obviously you aren't very good at it. You'll probably just end up making it worse."

I ran my fingers through my hair, and walked over to the door – but Fang was in the way. He grabbed my wrist and spun me to face him, and it was then I noticed the small smile playing on his lips.

"They aren't going to leave you alone, Max, because you're so special. All this stuff that's happened to you, you've made it through and you're still standing strong. I don't know anyone else who would've been able to do that. We – as a flock – managed to live with the wings, we saved the world, we worked through all of that! And now -" he said, brushing some hair out of my eyes and looking into them deeply. "-we are going to work through this."

"Thanks," I breathed, thinking about how close Fang was to me. He pressed his forehead to mine, and our noses touched for a couple of seconds until I tilted my head up and locked my lips with his, unable to bear it anymore.

**A/N: Aww, we always like those FAXy moments. I'd just like to say to everyone that they needn't worry about the Flock going out of the picture once Max is at the House of Night: although she is socializing with the vampyres by night, by day [or early morning] she's meeting up with the Flock [including Fang! Whoooo!].**

Remember: review! And suggest anything you want in this story. 


	3. Explanations

**A/N: Okay, I wrote this during Science, [my parents are NOT going to be happy with my SAT scores] so it's not one of my best. But it was necessary, and there's lots going on in the next chapter – I promise!**

I guess I dedicate this chapter to my reviewers! This has been up for a couple of weeks now and has only got 6 reviews – I was going to wait for more but it seems it's not going to happen. Oh well.  
Anyway, thanks to: Rosalie Thomas, Ilovedamien, , turquoiseflame, PhoebRose and Schizophrenic Muffin!  


**Enjoy!**

Here we go, the grand moment – facing the Flock. They'd come home yesterday with Fang and he'd thankfully distracted them from the subject of my Mark, and they hadn't gone looking for me only to find me rocking myself back and forth, sobbing to myself.

But they did witness the moment after I got my Mark, but they hadn't got the explanation Mom gave me – they were still wondering what the hell it was.

"Guys?" I called, and was rewarded by a few grunts in the living room and Iggy walking towards me, eating ice cream straight out of the tub. I led Iggy into the sitting room and sat in an armchair, about to talk to the Flock. I would have, if it wasn't for the fact that all their eyes were literally _glued _to the TV.

I stood up, waving my arms, but got no reply. So I picked up the remote, pointed it at the TV, and _bam! _– they weren't watching TV anymore.

"Max!"  
"Why'd you do that?!"  
"We were watching _Rush Hour!!!_"

"Look, guys, I need to talk to you," I said, sinking down into the armchair once more. When she caught a look of the Mark on my forehead, Nudge looked a little happier about the TV being shut off but Gazzy still looked pretty moody.

"It's repeated in an hour, Gaz." I said, and he grinned up at me and started being quite attentive.

"Right. Now I have attention, it's pretty important I talk to you." I said, gesturing at the Mark on my head. "This _thing, _this Mark on my head, it's not…normal. I didn't go to a tattoo parlour whilst I was drunk and wake up with it the next morning. This Mark, many, many people have – it's a Mark of vampyrism. I'm turning into a vampyre. "

It was silent for a minute, and Fang shot me a look, as in 'Did ya have to be so blunt?', and I shrugged in reply. Gazzy was sitting with his mouth open, Iggy was rubbing his brow, and Angel eyes were glazed over as she searched me for the truth. I looked to Nudge. She was being unusually qui-oops, I spoke too soon.

"A vampyre? Gosh it'd be really cool to be one of them. Althought it would kinda suck to have to drink blood all the time, and sleep upside down at night. Ooh, are you going to get a coffin? I could help decorate it with sequins and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Gazzy said. "Nudge, Max, you do realize vampyres AREN'T REAL, right?"

I had asked my Mom pretty much all the questions that had built up in my head overnight, but that hadn't been one of them.

I opened my mouth, then shut it again, gaping like a fish. What should I say? I knew quite a lot about vampyres now, but how was I supposed to tell him I was turning into _Dracula? _I mean, he already had enough monsters in his life, right? I started into a coughing fit then, my chest feeling like it was about to explode. So sudden.

_**They need to know, Max.**_

The Voice. Hadn't heard from it in a while. But it still brought up a valid point – I knew I needed to tell them. They needed to know what was happening to me.

"Ummm…,"I started, and then the next words that were going to come out of my mouth just…disappeared. But then, of course, my knight in shining armour came to my rescue.

"Listen up guys," he said, winking at me discreetly. "Yesterday Max saw a man, flying out the window, with the same markings as her. I saw him too. She's not going crazy. He said some stuff, which I didn't hear, but I did see Max collapse on the ground, screaming in pain, and the Mark appearing on her forehead. Vampyres _do _exist in the world. It's what Marked Max and what Max will become."

I held up my handto cut off Fang, and shot him a quick thank-you smile. I knew what to say.

"I'm not turning into _Dracula,_" I said, before Gazzy asked the questions. "But yes, life's going to be a little different for me now."

I launched into the story Mom had told me, trying to leave out the word 'vampyre' until the last minute, to stop them from freaking again.

But I started coughing again mid-point and had to sit down. I could stop, I felt so…crap.

Fang looked worried, but before he could call my mother in I cleared my throat and resumed my story, sitting down this time.

When I was finished, four Flock members (plus Total) were staring up wide eyed and curious. Nudge had the look on her face, that one that looked like she was about to…explode. My head was woozy, my world was spinning, but I somehow found enough strength inside me to yell "Moooom!"

I settled into the chair and closed my eyes for a minute, regaining my strength. I felt crap. I had a light sheen of sweat dusting my face, and I had massive bags under my eyes – even though I slept like a log last night when I woke up this morning I didn't feel that rested.

Magnolia yapped as Mom entered the house, but she soon quietened and I opened my eyes to the sight of Mom stripping her hands of her gardening gloves and setting them down on the end table.

I looked her up and down once. She was wearing her old clothes – jeans with massive holes in them and a torn shirt that was caked in mud. I finally pieced it together when she ran her fingers through her hair and a leaf descended towards the ground – she had been gardening.

"Mom!" I said, shocked. "I said I'd help you with the gardening!"

Mom chuckled and untied her hair, setting the hairband down next to the gardening gloves.

"Max, I _think_ you might have more to worry about right now." she laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. "Besides, I don't mind doing it alone. It gives me time to think." There was an odd look on her face, but I let it slide.

I shot her a confused look, and she tapped the middle of her forehead twice with her middle finger. Ah yeah. The Mark.

I _hated _this! Since we'd moved in with Mom we'd tried _so hard _to regain normalness but I could see it all slipping away before my eyes.

Mom turned to the Flock, prepared for the Q&A, but I burst into a raw coughing fit that made the whole Flock turn and stare at me. My chest felt awful, and I had a massive headache.

Next thing I know, the room was spinning and I hit the floor.

Hard.

**A/N: Dun Dun Dunnnn!  
**


	4. A New Home And Someone To Share It With

**(A/N): Hi, it's Splat again =]. I know it's been a while since I've updated – I know and I'm super super sorry. I'm going to start writing the next chapter as soon as I upload this one but I don't know when it'll be up! I feel guilty because my reviewers have been awesome, and I'd like to say thanks to:  
x0x-Twilight-x0x, rosabell, Vamps-with-Wings, PokemonKnight, turquoiseflame, goldenrose37, jazmine8448, puppy951, StephyluvsBL4eva, ICE WARRIOR, , NITESIDE IS DA BOMB, The Gasman, Rosalie Thomas, Ilovedamien!, PhoebRose, and Schizophrennic Muffin.  
Loads of people have been asking what HoN book this is set in, and I think I'm going to put it around the beginning of Untamed – but I haven't decided whether to include Stark or not. Thoughts? **

I opened my eyes a crack, and peered up at the scene above. Every part of me ached, so I relaxed my eyes but I could still _hear _what was going on.

"Fang, there's only one way she's going to stay alive…" Mom, of course.

"Well do it! Anything!" Fang. I think the two of them were alone, because I could hear anyone moving and the rest of the Flock had been unusually quiet.

I tried to feel my surroundings. I was on something soft…a bed, maybe? Yes, definitely – my head was propped up by a pillow.

"Fang, she's changing! You have to let her change and move into the House of Night, or she'll die! You already know this!"

"I know, I just didn't know it'd happen so…suddenly. I thought we'd have sometime. It's only been a _day_!"

"I'm so sorry, Fang." Mom said, sounding sad. "But she has to go."

I gathered enough energy to open my eyes and let out a weak "Hey…"

They both rushed over then, and Fang sat on a stool next to my bed, which I had a feeling he'd been sitting in for a while.

I broke into a coughing fit, making me sit up and bend over. Fang picked up a glass of water and handed it to me, a worried look on my face. He was so sweet.

I downed it, then looked up at my mom. "How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple of hours."

I nodded, then looked down, fiddling with my fingers. I think Mom kinda sensed our mood, because she kissed me on the forehead and left.

I looked up at Fang, and we spent a minute in silence before I spoke.

"I have to go." I said miserably, looking at him to judge his reaction. He had been staring at the carpet, but he locked his gaze with mine and simply breathed the words

"I know."

I could've stayed like that forever. Looking into Fang's eyes, studying his perfect features – it was heaven to me.

"The Flock are going to kill me," I said, breaking the intimate mood as I made Fang grin.

But of course, a nice relaxing moment can't stay a nice relaxing moment. Yet again I burst into a coughing fit, reminding both of us that I was dying. Fang helped me into the living room, where the Flock all resumed the exact same positions we had been in yesterday, before I'd broken off the conversation with my fainting – again. Man, I was getting sick of it.

We talked for a while, and the Flock told me what Mom had filled them in on while I was out last night. But of course, there were still questions.

"How do you know you can trust this House of Night place? You don't know anyone who's been there, or goes there." Iggy said, frowning. I was about to open my mouth to tell them I had no choice, when another voice interrupted.

"She does know someone who goes there." The voice said. A voice I recognized.

…Ella? My gaze immediately shot over towards the door, where she stood in all her perfect glory, her head held high and a sapphire blue outline of a Mark on her forehead.

I gaped.

"Ella?!" Nudge squealed, obviously not as lost for words as I was. "What…when…how?"

Ella slumped down in the only spare armchair left, and sighed in comfort.

"It happened three, four months ago," she explained in a bored voice. I imagined she must have had to tell this story a million times. "The Tracker found me at school. Marked me in the middle of a History lesson. It was horrible."

"I'm sorry," I said, having one of those rare moments where I was glad I wasn't a normal school-going kid. "I'm so lucky I was here. I would've freaked out if Mom hadn't told me about it – I had no idea vampyres even existed."

Ella smirked, and continued. The Flock all sat there, listening as she described the House of Night and the sort of things she did on a daily basis. As she talked, this knotting fear grew in the pit of my stomach, and suddenly I was really nervous. This whole thing was new for me; while I'm pretty sure the kids that went to the House of Night had grown up knowing about vampyres. I was joining the school mid-term, which, even though I was assured wasn't unusual, was still worrying me. People had already made their friendship groups and I wasn't sure if Ella would want me interrupting her life.

I tried to not worry and to pay attention to Ella as she described her teachers, but I couldn't help it. I curled up in my chair and started chewing my nails in thought.

The next night I couldn't sleep. I was tossing and turning with worries about my new life, what would happen to my Flock when I was gone, but the main reason I couldn't sleep was that I was dying. Every time I closed my eyes, a couple of seconds later I broke into a coughing fit that seemed to split my head open. It was painful. I paced my room, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep.

Finally, I decided I may as well pack my things for the morning, when Mom had told me we were leaving for the House of Night. She was worried too, and I knew why. I was worrying about the exact same thing.

Would my being a mutant react with my being a vampyre? My cells were already mutating, every day, and I had absolutely no idea whether being a vampyre would change anything.

What if it killed me?

6 am. This was ridiculous.

I had woken Mom up with one of my coughing fits around an hour ago, and she'd said she couldn't stand watching me die any longer, and she booked us an early flight to Tulsa.

Although we had slightly different skin colours, Mom pasted my forehead with her foundation until the Mark was completely gone.

I was ill, and I was _exhausted. _I slept in the car, I slept in the little tin can they called a plane – although I was dying to throw open the emergency exit door like Gazzy had done and stretch my wings. I hadn't been flying since the day I got Marked – I had been feeling too sick, and I had had too much on my mind to even think about relaxing.

And since I'd been Marked, I hadn't even had a chance to think about Fang.

Four hours later we drove up to the House of Night. It was a massive building that looked like it had been built in the dawn of time – but had somehow still managed to survive all these years. We drove in through the gates, which were open [as if they were waiting for us] and through the magnificent grounds. The road led us up to what I could only assume was the entrance to the school – a giant door that was made of very old wood to match the building. Just outside the door was a stone bench that I took a moment to sit down on. The illness, the feeling of death that had been haunting me had immediately eased up as I arrived on campus, but nothing could protect me from the extremity of the change I was going through. A couple of days ago, I had no idea vampyres even existed, but here I was now, about to commit to being one for the rest of my life.

I took a deep breath and looked up at my Mom's concerned face, and shook my head at her to let her know I was okay. Mom laid a hand on the iron door handle and pulled it down, and I got my first glimpse of my new home.

I didn't have a lot of time to admire it though, because my attention was immediately distracted by one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen turn the corner to come and greet me. Every feature on her heart shaped face was ultimately perfect – her huge, almond shaped eyes were the deepest green I could imagine, and her skin was absolutely flawlessly smooth. She had full, perfectly sized lips and her nose was the ideal size and shape. Her hair was the colour of blood, which I felt was completely appropriate. Ella, who had been standing behind me, walked forward and bowed, one fist over her heart.

The strange woman returned the salute, before turning to me. "Hello, Max. I am Neferet, the High Priestess at the Tulsa House of Night." Her voice has full of warmth and was peculiarly musical, as if she was about to break into dance any second.

"Hello," I said meekly, nodding my head at her in a weird sort of greeting. I felt nervous, out of place, and I wasn't used to not having my Flock by my side to back me up. I felt completely and utterly alone.

"Thank you so much for bringing her in, Dr. Martinez. I assure you she will receive the same care and devotion as your other daughter has." Neferet said, smiling at my mother.

Mom beamed up at Neferet in admiration, before pulling me into a hug and assuring me she'd see me soon. I hugged her tight, trying to keep in the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks. But then she slipped out through the old wooden door, and she was gone.

"Why don't we have a chat alone, Max?" Neferet asked, moving gracefully towards me and putting a comforting arm around my shoulders. "Ella, why don't you go and fetch Zoey Redbird? I'm sure she'd love to greet our new student."

Ella nodded, shot me a reassuring look, and left. And then I was completely alone with Neferet, whose charming personality didn't falter a bit as soon as we didn't have company anymore.

She led me down the corridor to an empty classroom, and we both sat down.

"So, Max, how long has it been since you were Marked?" she asked, her emerald eyes looking kindly into mine.

"Um, two days I think. I don't know. I kept fainting a lot." I shot her a sheepish grin, which she returned with a look of confusion.

"How odd. Most fledglings come in on the very same day they're Marked – the illness gets too intense for them to survive. We've even had a fledgling come in unconscious only five hours after she was Marked. It's amazing you were allowed to last through the night, let alone two days."

"Oh," was all I seemed to be able to say, but it didn't matter, because Neferet had plenty.

"I also notice your Mark is black, as opposed to the usual fledgling blue. Do you know why this is? It's most strange."

_Yeah, well, I'm strange. _I felt like replying, but instead I answered her question with a simple denial. Of course, it was a lie: I had a suspicion. I wasn't your average fledgling: I was a bird-human-vampyre mix, so it would make a bit of sense if I didn't have the Mark of an average fledgling.

"No, not a clue."

"Ah, well, I'm sure we'll find out in time. Only one other vampyre in the whole world had an unusual mark, and she happens to reside in this very school. She's the leader of the Dark Daughters: Zoey Redbird. "

As if on cue, Zoey entered the room and said: "You rang?"

Zoey was quite pretty, with high, prominent cheekbones, wide hazel eyes, and long, dark hair that was like a waterfall down her back. Her skin was pale and flawless like Neferet's, but it was none of these features that made her beautiful. Surrounding the coloured in sapphire moon that was identical to Neferet's were swirls and patterns that reminded me of a labyrinth. Although Neferet's extended Mark only surrounded her eyes, Zoey's ran down her cheekbone, down her neck and disappeared underneath her sweater. It was beautiful.

"Wow," I said to Zoey. "Your Mark is gorgeous."

Zoey looked a little taken aback, but she smiled warmly at me and said:

"I'll show you to your new room – you'll be sharing with me since my roommate passed away a while ago."

She said the words awkwardly, which I could only assume was because she still wasn't over her roommate.

"Oh I'm sorry," I said, not sure what the protocol was for a situation like this. But apparently I'd done the right thing because she smiled at me again and led my out of the room.

**(A/N) Kind of a crappy chapter, not much happening in it – but the next one [should have] LOTS of drama. And it had the Flock!**

Please R&R, as always, if you want more! And, as always, I'm open to new ideas, so don't be afraid to say what you want to happen in a review! After all, this story is for YOU [and so my friends don't kill me for not editing and uploading another one XD].


	5. Settling in with Suspicions

**(A/N) I know I'm a bad person – I do take quite a long time to upload new chapters. I can blame that on school. But – hey – summer holidays now, so there should be more chapters coming your way. Hopefully. As always, read and review! ******

Zoey's POV  
The new girl, Max, was strange. Not that she acted strange, nor was she particularly strange looking, but I got this vibe from her that she wasn't…normal.

Of course, because her Mark was black, it wasn't that hard to figure out. She was the only person – besides Stevie Rae and the other undead fledglings – that I had met that had an unusual Mark. I wondered whether Max had been gifted by the Goddess Nyx aswell. Would she have an affinity?

It would be weird having another roommate – ever since my previous one, Stevie Rae , had 'died', I'd had a room to myself. But Max seemed nice enough, so I couldn't complain for the moment.

As I led her into the girls' dormitories, I snuck a quick peek at her. She had fairly straight, wind-tossed hair that was about five different shades of blonde. The bottom bits looked faintly pink, like she'd had some streaks put in a while ago and they had nearly grown out.  
Max had wide, chocolate brown eyes, full of knowledge and innocence. Her face showed no emotion as I showed her round, unlike most of the new students around here who gaped in awe at the House of Night's rustic charm.

If there was one word I had to pick to describe Max right now, it would be guarded. Secretive. Her eyes were void of emotion, and her face, although smiling and chatting away, was hiding any real emotion deep underneath.

"I like this space," Max said, looking around the main dorm room. "How much time do we get to spend here?"

"Classes run from 8 to 3 – the rest of the day is yours to do whatever you want." I explained. "I hang out with my friends here quite a lot. You'll meet them tomorrow. Erin and Shaunee are in the room off this corridor here -" I gestured to the east wing of the dorm rooms – "and Jack and Damien are in the boys' dorm. I'd introduce you to them now, but they're asleep. We've had a long night. Besides, I expect you want to settle down, get accustomed first…right?"

"Right," Max replied, before doing a double take. "Still in bed? I thought classes began at eight?"

"They do. Eight PM. Our days are flipped over here, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Of course, I remember. Sorry, I'm a little slow today." Max averted making eye contact, and I internally raised an eyebrow. What was going on with her?

**Max POV**

I really needed to talk to Ella. I didn't realize just how out of my depth I was here, in a whole other world I didn't know had existed.

Zoey Redbird, wonder fledgling, had no idea who I was. She had no idea I grew up in a vampyre-free world, at the School. And I intended to keep it that way.

Once she had shown me around the dormitory (I checked the cupboards. They didn't have a single ingredient for chocolate chip cookies), Zoey took me up to our shared bedroom. It was pretty obvious which side was which – although both were impeccably neat, Zoey's side had been personalized – smudge sticks in a glass jar by the window, an alarm clock and a book called Advanced Vampyre Sociology on the bedside table. A chair by the end of the bed had a jumper slung over it – the only messy thing in the room.

The other side, however, looked untouched. There were straight, perfect sheets on the bed, which obviously hadn't been slept in, and there wasn't a personal touch on the whole of that half of the room. Zoey looked a little uneasy as I hoisted my suitcase, which someone had placed at the foot of the bed, onto the mattress and unzipped it. I tried to ignore her watching me as I unpacked all my necessary items, putting them in various places around the room. She got up to go to the bathroom, and that's when I unpacked the most important thing of all. To the normal eye, it was a picture of my mom and Ella, which was nice to have, but when you undid the back, something much more important to me fell out.

It was a picture I had taken of the whole flock when they weren't looking. We had been up in a tall, tall tree for a night and the Flock were sprawled across the branches. They had all been fairly happy and relaxed – we'd had food for the night, we had somewhere to sleep and we were all together. It had been taken about a week after we'd rescued Angel from the School. Fang was hunched up in a ball, face as expressionless, almost moody, as ever. Angel and Nudge were sitting on the branch behind, playing a clapping game. Above, Gazzy was whispering in Iggy's ear – I had later found a stash of bombs in a makeshift bird's nest. Total was curled up on Angel's lap, and I thought it was a perfect picture of the Flock.

Making sure Zoey was clear out of earshot, I hugged the picture which was protected by a large wooden frame, and whispered:

"Oh, God, I miss you so much. I love you all and I'll never forget you. As soon as I can, I'm coming to see you."

**Zoey POV**

I washed my hands, taking a moment to look at my latest gift from the Goddess Nyx – a spiraling labyrinth- like pattern that covered my hands, and my middle finger on either hand. It looked like I was wearing some elaborate string gloves, but more gorgeous.

I unlocked the bathroom door and went back into my – I mean, mine and Max's – room, to find Max slumped to the side, head on the pillow and snoring softly.

"I guess it won't take you long to get used to vampyre hours then, Max," I muttered as I made my way over to Stevie Rae's old bed where the teenage girl was sleeping.

I pulled the covers up from the foot of the bed, intending to cover Max, but as I did so she turned to lay on her front, revealing the corner of…what was it?

I carefully pried the object out of her tight grasp, and she murmured in her sleep as if she knew what I was doing. I felt slightly guilty for invading her privacy, but my overwhelming curiosity took over. Inside the plain photo frame, was a picture of Ella Martinez, a girl from the year below that I recognized, and what must be her mother.

_It's a cute family picture. _I thought, and a burning sensation erupted inside me that made me miss my mom so much. I attempted to ignore it as I moved to set the frame down on Stev – I mean, _Max's _– bedside table. The metal back of the frame fell off as I did so, and another, smaller picture fell out too.

It looked like it had been taken with Polaroid camera – it was one of those pictures you had to shake before being able to see what you had just taken a photo of.

Looking down at the picture I was holding, of her and her friends in a tree. There were five kids, all on various branches, playing games and whispering in each other's ears. I bet she missed them a lot. I was about the place the picture back inside the frame when I had a thought – why had she needed to hide this? It was most odd, just a simple picture of her friends.

So I took a closer look.

And couldn't believe what I saw.

All five of them – even the little girl with the angelic face, had something sticking out of their backs that, on closer inspection, turned out to be _wings. _

**Angel POV**

I missed Max so much. I knew the others did too – you didn't have to be a mind reader to know that. I silently wondered if we'd ever see her again, when Fang's mind answered the question for me.

_I wonder if we can visit her? Screw being able to, I'm __**going**_ _to. They can't stop me. I'll go later tonight, before she goes to bed for the first time…._

_**FANG! That's an awesome idea…let's all go! I'll tell the others.  
**__  
_I didn't give him a chance to reply as I left his head and raced to the living room where the rest of the Flock were, and babbled the plan to them.

"That's sounds awesome!"  
"I totally wanna go!"  
"I miss her sooo much."  
"Ooh, cool. I wonder if…"

Iggy clamped a hand over Nudge's mouth before she could get started on a rant.

Dr. M entered then, drying her hands on a towel before speaking.

"The days are flipped over there. If you go late at night, it's likely Max will be in class. You should visit early the next morning – the classes finish at three, like a normal school, except here they finish at 3 AM. Visit her early tomorrow morning, and it's likely you'll catch her then."

**Max POV  
**I woke up, realizing I had fallen asleep whilst unpacking. I'd hardly got any sleep the night before – the coughing pain which had been immediately eliminated as soon as I'd entered the House of Night campus had been so bad I couldn't sleep.

My hands grasped nothingness and my heart was suddenly panicked. The picture of the Flock with their wings out had been visible! Where was it? What if someone found out about me?

I flipped over, and tore the bedclothes apart. Where was it? My heart was practically jumping out of my chest by this point. I lifted up my pillows, and was instantly relieved when I saw the photo frame there. I guess my constant paranoia had shown through in my sleep and I'd felt a need to hide it.

Well, at least no-one saw it, huh?

**(A/N) Poor Max…she has no idea her entire identity has been compromised! Next chapter brings lots of good gossip within the House of Night [well, the Nerd Herd at least]. And the Flock visit Max! Fun.**

One more thing: someone PM'd me because their review button refused to work, and they said I write really poshly and that Max wouldn't think like that. Is she right? I'm open to other constructive criticism too =]


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